Sometimes people visiting Walt Disney World don’t do much planning or research about the parks or things they plan to do. This can make for some interesting things being overheard in the parks. I’ve tried to help some people who I heard say something I know was incorrect and that would negatively impact their plans. But not everyone wants to be helped.

For instance, on more than one occasion I’ve heard people in line near me say that they were going to take the Monorail over to Universal Studios or specifically to “Harry Potter Land.” Years ago, before there was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a family in front of us in line at Test Track was talking about how well it worked out that they decided to go to EPCOT that morning since the Monorail was close by and they could just hop on that to get to Universal Studios after they were done there. I assumed they meant Hollywood Studios and just called it the wrong thing, but I went ahead and apologized for butting in and proceeded to let them know that the Monorail did not go from EPCOT to Hollywood Studios.

One of the women in the group who seemed to be the mother, told me no, they had already done Hollywood Studios and they were going to take the Monorail to Universal Studios. She said someone told her they could take the Monorail there. I let her know that the Monorail did not go to Universal Studios. She was really surprised by this and even started asking her husband, “That’s what they said, right?” The man told me he knows that someone told them they could and was I sure. Of course, I told them I was 100% sure about this. They thanked me and said they’d ask on the way to the Monorail.

A few minutes later, the man turned and asked me why if their park hopper included Universal Studios, wasn’t there transportation over to that park? Another woman behind me and I both told him that a Disney World park hopper did not get them into Universal Studios at all and that they would need to buy tickets for Universal and/or Islands of Adventure to be able to get in to those parks. His jaw dropped and he just stared at us for a few seconds. I don’t know who sold them their tickets, but they had convinced these people that a Disney World park hopper ticket got them into Universal too. I felt bad for them but also, I’m glad they figured this out before trying to get to Universal.

During a different trip, a man and his son in line behind me and my sons for Tower of Terror struck up friendly conversation to pass the time as we went through the standby line. At one point he told me he wanted to give me a heads up that if we tried to go to Magic Kingdom in the mornings when it first opened, they try to charge you extra. I must have given him a weird look because he told me that it was true and he started to explain it to me.

That morning, he and his son got to Magic Kingdom about 15 minutes before it opened and then once people were being let into the ticket turnstiles, the Cast Members had trouble with his tickets and they asked if he was staying at a Disney resort hotel. He wasn’t, so they told him it was Extra Magic hours and that it was only for guests staying in a Disney hotel. But the way he explained it, he thought it meant they had to pay extra and then go stay at a Disney World hotel if they wanted to go into Magic Kingdom. He said he told them he would not being paying extra and definitely not going to pay for a Disney hotel. He told me he got very upset because the Cast Members told him he could come back in an hour and he’d be able to get in then when the Extra Magic hour was over.

He was saying that this is how Disney makes its money and that I should have seen all the fools who paid the extra money to get in early. Apparently he vowed not to go to Magic Kingdom at all after this and his son was sad about that but he wanted to warn me so that I knew not to go. I tried to explain that it was just an extra hour given to resort hotel guests as an incentive/benefit of staying on Disney property but he would hear none of it! He kept saying, “No! You don’t understand! They told me it was extra!” And I kept trying to say, no, it’s called Extra Magic Hours and sometimes it’s in the morning and sometimes it’s at night but if you don’t stay at a Disney hotel, you just go in when that is over or before it starts depending on when it is that day.

He didn’t believe me and kept telling me he was just there and he knows what they told him….blah blah blah… So I was just like, ok. Well, I tried. Luckily, he and his son were the last of the group that went ahead of us for the pre-show room, so we were split up and I wasn’t behind them in line anymore. I felt bad that his son was sad and I really hope the man ended up asking someone about it and was able to take his kid to Magic Kingdom.

There have been other times that I overheard people saying things like that getting FastPasses costs extra or that you have to buy separate tickets to use Disney buses or the Monorail. I’m not sure why some people don’t do trip planning or research so that they know what’s what, but Disney travel agents generally don’t charge a fee and can be a wealth of information! (I’m not one…by the way…but these people need to use one) °O°